What does it mean to recognize Jesus? Where and how do we recognize him? If you really think about it….trying to recognize the Lord in ourselves and those around us is a daily challenge. If it weren’t so challenging…we wouldn’t be so hardened by sin. Things like love…patience…respect…kindness…peace…would be way more evident and way more common. Our inability to see Jesus in our every day lives remains one of our greatest stumbling blocks…the greatest source of distress in being a Christian in a world that doesn’t always seem so Christian.

Trying to recognize Jesus is so difficult for us because we are stuck in the already but not yet. We live in the already…the very fact that Jesus has already come and has shown us the Truth through his ministry…his own death and rising…and in a couple of weeks…his ascending into heaven. And with all these stories and events of Easter we still wait in expectation…not quite sure of ourselves…in the not yet of our human experience. It’s not yet because here we are mired in the Christian journey toward our ultimate end…heaven. So we live in the already but not yet. Then question remains…how can we recognize Jesus amidst everything that clouds our daily vision in this world around us?

Today we hear this classic story from the Gospel of Luke. The Emmaus story is really our story. These two Disciples…they’re our stand ins…they were quite literally stuck between the already and the not yet. They were looking at the already but unable to see the not yet. The irony of their story is that they had spent every day for three years in the company of Jesus…in his direct proximity…hearing his preaching…watching his healings…discerning his parables…learning from his actions…and yet they couldn’t recognize him. If their vision was dulled…how much more difficult might it be for us…2000 years later in a much different world. It bodes the question…Had theyreally ever known him? Had they ever trulyunderstood him?

The answer probably lies somewhere in between yes and no. They understood when he healed and when he multiplied loaves and fish and when we walked on water. But when things got dicey…his arrest…his trial…his crucifixion…they withdrew...they denied him…they lost almost every bit of faith that they had so tenuously cultivated while walking with him…they became blind. And now, on their way to Emmaus…they had become bitter and disheartened and maybe a bit hopeless…possibly even wondering if this whole Jesus thing was a waste of their time. It didn’t seem to work out like they had planned. Now I don’t know about you…this sounds pretty familiar…doesn’t it.

How many times have you and I…when things get crazy in our lives…when things careenout of control in our relationships…our jobs…our families…our health…how many times do we lose sight of the One? How many times do we fall back on our own limited senses…our own clouded vision…our own feeble understanding of things? Our hearts do occasionally burn…we have quick glimpses of Jesus but just as quickly we lose sight of him and we panic. It’s usually at these moments when we start to question whether this is the right place to be at all…these are the moments when things out there start to pull us away from things in here…this altar…this ambo…away from the breaking of this bread.

We all know how the Emmaus story ends. It wasn’t until the breaking of the bread that they finally recognized them. And their hearts were immediatelyenlivened…their sight immediately restored. All at once, their sadness…their anxiety…their bitterness…their frustration…their willfulness was transformed into joy and commitment. When he left them what did they do? They ran back to the others re-energized and ready to do anything for the Lord. Isn’t it curious how quickly we vacillate between total hopelessness and total assurance?

So what’s the point? For you and me…what is it that we need to take from this gospel out these doors and into our every day lives? Well, I think it’s right here at this Altar…this table where Jesus breaks bread for us and in doing so gives us a very specific vision of who he is. When he says, “This is by body and blood shed for you” what he is really saying is, “This is me…look up here.” He says, “In these gifts of bread and wine…I Am Here and I love you so much that I give everything I have to you.”

How do we recognize Jesus?…by becoming good receivers of this bread and wine…His body and blood.. Receivers who honor the Giver with worthy receiving…attentive receiving…well prepared…well informed with eyes opened receiving. One of my favorite spiritual concepts is…the quality of our receiving should always be in direct relationship to the quality of the giving. In the breaking of the bread he Gives himself to us. The question is…What is our receiving like?

When we receive well, then we Worship Well. And when we Worship Well then Jesus is not only present during this hour…but he is present all week long...as we try to cope with our challenges…those confusing times in our lives…our anxieties…our relationships…our jobs…He’s there…when we receive well. The nearness of Grace is the antidote to the nearness of the problems of life. In other words…the Eucharist is the cure for spiritual blindness. And the more often we come into contact with Jesus in the Eucharist…the more chances we have to see him…to know him…to recognize him. St. Leo the Great…one of our Church Fathers...said, “That which is visible in Christ himself has passed over into the Sacraments.” When you see the Eucharist…you see Christ. Psalm 34…Taste and SEE the goodness of the Lord. This is what we do every time we come to the Altar of Emmaus…Mass. And when youand you and you and I see the Eucharist and Christ…we begin to see each other as God created each of us…in his own image. And this is how we begin to understand our identity as the Mystical Body of Christ. We become Eucharist to each other. And that results in the events outside of these walls changing…becoming more holy…purposeful things of God themselves….our jobs…our relationships…our families…our successes and our foibles…our roles as Disciples which mirror this encounter on the road to Emmaus. When we Worship Well…with purpose…with well-formed minds as to what all of this means in our lives (rather than just sleep walking through Holy Communion)…when we open our eyes to the breaking of the bread here…then everything out there becomes much clearer and…more importantly holier.